Evaluation of (S)- and (R)-misonidazole as GPX inhibitors: synthesis, characterization including circular dichroism and in vitro testing on bovine GPx-1.

Racemic misonidazole, a radiosensitizer formally used in radiation therapy of cancer and to date still applied, was once reported to exhibit strong inhibitory effects on mouse glutathione peroxidases (GPX). This appeared to qualify misonidazole as a lead structure for the development of novel GPX inhibitors to cause oxidative stress in chemotherapy-resistant tumors. A unique feature of misonidazole as an inhibitor of GPX is the absence of a thiol functionality. Therefore, it was expected to selectively target inhibition devoid of promiscuous interactions with cations and sulfhydryl groups. We synthesized the isomers of misonidazole and analyzed the ability of chiroptical high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to identify the particular enantiomers. Due to the chiral pool synthesis, the assignment of the correct configuration could be verified. Finally, we evaluated both isomers for their inhibitory activities on bovine erythrocyte GPx-1, which is 87% homologous to the human enzyme. Despite the previously reported inhibition of racemic misonidazole on the less homologous mouse GPx-1, we did not find any significant inhibitory activity on the bovine enzyme for either isomer. Though misonidazole appears unlikely to be an inhibitor of human GPx-1 activity, we still spotlight misonidazole as a promising fragment-like lead structure in general.

Triterpene glycosides from the leaves of Pittosporum angustifolium.

Phytochemical investigation of the leaves of Pittosporum angustifolium resulted in the isolation and structural elucidation of nine new triterpene saponins, named pittangretosides A-I (1-9), together with a known compound (10). Mainly by NMR and HRESIMS experiments, eight compounds were identified as A1-barrigenol glycosides (1-7, 10), whereas two compounds exhibited an unusual 17,22-seco-backbone of oleanolic acid (8, 9). All compounds were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicities against human urinary bladder carcinoma cells (5637). Only compounds with an angeloyl-residue at C-22 of the aglycone (1-4 and 10) showed antiproliferative effects with IC50 values of 4.1, 5.2, 2.1, 17.9, and 2.4 µM, respectively.

Intergroup cross-comparison for the evaluation of data-interchangeability from various chromatographic tests.

The recently dramatic increase in the available choices of reversed-phase columns could be an advantage of this mode of separation. However, due to the insufficiency of available information in terms of the exact functionality of these phases and the similarities and differences between these newly introduced and conventional reversed-phase columns, it is now somehow problematic to determine which could be the best column for a given analytical problem. There is no single column that will give us a good separation for all applications. As a result, there have been several attempts to develop testing strategies to characterize column chemistries. In this study three of the most widely used and acceptable approaches for the characterization of reversed-phase columns, which are Tanaka, United States Pharmacopeia (USP), and Snyder-Dolan, are systemically applied to investigate the chromatographic properties of calixarene- and resorcinarene-bonded stationary phases, polar-embedded and polar-endcapped stationary phases, phenyl and ether-linked phenyl with the presence of conventional alkyl-bonded phases (octyl- and octadecylsilane). Although all column classification systems aim to evaluate "more or less" the same characteristics, each system uses different test mixtures in different chromatographic conditions. It is therefore very important to evaluate the similarities and differences in the resulted "column parameters" and the possible interchangeability of them. The results of this comparative study show that the used parameters of Tanaka and of Snyder-Dolan have in many cases a good to very good correlation. The USP approach, which is based on single run, is related to Tanaka and Snyder-Dolan only in terms of hydrophobic characters, and no relation could establish in the other parameters. The hydrophobic-subtraction model could be extended to describe the ligand-solute interactions of calixarene- and resorcinarene-bonded stationary phases, which are belonging to reversed phase material. However they show, depending on the analytes, some additional interactions, since their steric, polar and ionic properties are different compared to those of conventional alkyl-bonded phases.

Analytical power of LLE-HPLC-PDA-MS/MS in drug metabolism studies: identification of new nabumetone metabolites.

Nabumetone is a non-acidic, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory prodrug. Following oral administration, the prodrug is converted in the liver to 6-methoxy-2-naphthylacetic acid (6-MNA), which was found to be the principal metabolite responsible for the NSAID effect. The pathway of nabumetone transformation to 6-MNA has not been clarified, with no intermediates between nabumetone and 6-MNA having been identified to date. In this study, a new, as yet unreported phase I metabolite was discovered within the evaluation of nabumetone metabolism by human and rat liver microsomal fractions. Extracts from the biomatrices were subjected to chiral LLE-HPLC-PDA and achiral LLE-UHPLC-MS/MS analyses to elucidate the chemical structure of this metabolite. UHPLC-MS/MS experiments detected the presence of a structure corresponding to elemental composition C15H16O3, which was tentatively assigned as a hydroxylated nabumetone. Identical nabumetone and HO-nabumetone UV spectra obtained from the PDA detector ruled out the presence of the hydroxy group in the aromatic moiety of nabumetone. Hence, the most likely structure of the new metabolite was 4-(6-methoxy-2-naphthyl)-3-hydroxybutan-2-one (3-hydroxy nabumetone). To confirm this structure, the standard of this nabumetone metabolite was synthesized, its spectral (UV, CD, NMR, MS/MS) and retention properties on chiral and achiral chromatographic columns were evaluated and compared with those of the authentic nabumetone metabolite. To elucidate the subsequent biotransformation of 3-hydroxy nabumetone, the compound was used as a substrate in incubation with human and rat liver microsomal fraction. A number of 3-hydroxy nabumetone metabolites (products of conjugation with glucuronic acid, O-desmethylation, carbonyl reduction and their combination) were discovered in the extracts from the incubated microsomes using LLE-HPLC-PDA-MS/MS experiments. On the other hand, when 3-hydroxy nabumetone was incubated with isolated rat hepatocytes, 6-MNA was detected as the principal metabolite of 3-hydroxy nabumetone. Hence, 3-hydroxy nabumetone could be the missing link in nabumetone biotransformation to 6-MNA (i.e. nabumetone→3-hydroxy nabumetone→6-MNA).